Stamm wins leg as Golding quits

Stamm's Open 60 Cheminees Poujoulat was first over the line

Switzerland's Bernard Stamm has won the 12,000-mile first leg of the Five Oceans round-the-world race.

The defending champion completed the gruelling voyage from Bilbao, northern Spain, to Freemantle in Western Australia in 43 days.

Britain's Mike Golding confirmed on Monday that was quitting the race after a problematic opening leg.

Golding's Ecover suffered a broken mast hours after he gave up second place to rescue Alex Thomson who had capsized.

Golding, who injured his hand when his boat was damaged, was forced to head for Cape Town for repairs.

He told the race website: "The decision to retire has been a very difficult one - clearly the timings and costs are major factors.

"But from a competitive and safety standpoint there are additional factors that have finally led us to make this choice."

There are still four other sailors left in the contest - Kojiro Shiraishi, Graham Dalton and Unai Basurko, and British veteran Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.

This year's race is scheduled to cover 30,140 nautical miles, with the two remaining stages going from Fremantle to Norfolk, Virginia, and from there back to Bilbao arriving late April.